Flexible adjustable lever drag harrow



y 1944- v. ANTAL I FLEXIBLE ADJUSTABLE LEVER DRAG HARROW Filed No v. 4, 1942 [raven/$07" Patented May 2, 1944 UNET stars FLEXIBLE ADJUSTABLE LEVER DRAG HARROW 2 Claims.

This invention relates to flexible drag harrows. In my prior Patent Number 2,327,236, I disclosed and claimed a drag harrow which is flexible so that it will effectively ride over uneven ground, and wherein the harrow is adjustable so that the teeth thereof can be adjustably set to similar angular positions to vary the effective depth of the teeth in the ground. The harrow teeth are arranged on a plurality of transversely positioned bars which are simultaneously rotatable and are vertically swingable relative to each other. The angular adjustment of the teeth is effected by operating a hand lever connected to links which interconnect the rotatable oars. In said above identified application the hand lever was located on the rearmo-st of the plurality of transverse bars. It has been found, however, that by 10- cating the hand lever on the rearmost bar there is a tendency for the forward portion of the harrow to buckle.

One of the objects of the present invention is to so arrange the linkage connecting the bars and hand lever for rotating the bars that buckling of the harrow is eliminated.

More specifically it is an object of the invention to locate the hand lever for rotating the bars on the foremost bar and to connect said lever to the foremost of the links interconnecting the bars.

It is another object of the invention to provide a draft bar which is spaced forwardly from the foremost of the harrow bars and connected to said foremost harrow bar in a manner which will permit the draft bar to shift laterally relative to the harrow bars.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a connection in the form of a compression member between said draft bar and the foremost of said links interconnecting said harrow bars to further prevent buckling of said harrow.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the views, and, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the harrow with the draft bar shown in a laterally shifted position in dotted lines; v

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the device;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectiontaken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section through one of the harrow bars; and

Fig, 6 is a transverse sectional view through two harrow bars showing their connections.

The harrow includes a series of transversely disposed spaced bars 1 which are preferably of tubular construction. The bars 1 have drag teeth 8 mounted thereon and it should be noted that alignment with those teeth on the other bars to secure eifective working ofthe soil. This staggered relationship of the dragteeth 8 is secured by staggered positioning of the bars 1, thus making it possible to make all the bars alike and eliminating the necessity for special bars for each position. Connecting adjacent ends of the adjacent harrow bars 1 are rod-like links 9 having eyes ill at their ends to fit around the ends of said bar i. The eyes H] on the links 9 permit the bars to be rotated relative to the links so that the teeth 3 can be swung to different angular positions, and also permitting one of the bars I to swing vertically relative to the other bars. Movemerit of the bars 7 longitudinally of their axes is prevented by cotter keys I i which are run through said bars 1 at either side of the eyes Hi on the links In'some cases one of the cotterkeys'can he dispensed with where the eyes ID on the'links 9 lie closely adjacent some of the teeth 8 on the harrow bars;

Secured to medial portions of the bars I are brackets or levers 52 whose lower ends are rigidly connected to said bars 1 and whose upper ends 7 are interconnected by links i3 which are themnected to the foremost of the links l3 at the for-' ward end of said link. Thus when the lever I4 is shifted it will move the links l3 and levers l2v to partially rotate the harrow bars 1 and change i the angular positions of the drag teeth 8.

In order to brace the harrow against sidedraft and side movement of the various harrow bars 1, I provide a plurality of diagonally disposed braces I5 which have eyes It at their ends to rotatably receive the several harrow bars i. It is preferred that the line of braces l5 extend from the right front corner of the group of bars to the left rear.

corner thereof. Where the eyes 16 on the diagonal braces i5 do not lie adjacent some of the drag teeth 8 I provide cotter keys ll which ex-' tend through the harrow bars I in the same manner as the keys ii described above.

The leading or foremost harrow bar 7 has a pair of collars l8 rotatably mounted thereon adjacent its ends and each of the collars I8 has a flat tongue is extending forwardly therefrom to receive the forked end 25] of a forwardly ex U-shaped hitch members 25 pivotally mounted thereon adjacent the ends of the bar 2 3. The hitch members 25 are adapted to be suitably connected to a draft chain or other draft device rack 33.

outwardly away from the'lever I4 by means of a 7 spring 21 which is interposed between the upper end of the handle I4 and the inner side of the pivoted grip 26. The grip 26 is connected to the Y handle I4 by a pivot pin 28. A rod 29 is connected to the grip 26 at a-point offset from the pivot 28 as shown in Fig. 2, and said rod extends downwardly along the side of the lever I4 and the lower end of the rod 29 is bent at right-angles as shown at 3B in Fig. 3. The bent portion 30 of I the rod 29 extends through a slot 3I formed in the lever. l4- Thus when the pivoted grip 26 on the upper end of the handle I4 is pressed toward the handle the rod 29 withits bent lower end 30 will be pulled upwardly relative to the handle I4, and when the grip is released the spring 21 will force the grip away from the hand lever I4 and push therod 29 downwardly.

Extending rearwardly and upwardly from the central portion of the draft bar 24 and pivotally connected thereto is an arm 32, the rear end of said arm being in the form of an arcuate rack 33 which lies closely adjacent the hand lever I4 and in a position to be selectively engaged by the lower bent end 30 of. the spring pressed rod 29 to locate said hand lever I4 and interconnected harrow bars I in ,anydesired angular position. In order to keep the rack 33 close to the lever I4 I provide a pair of spacer blocks 34 above and below the slot 3I in the lever I4. Itis preferred that the lower block 34 be positioned directly beneath the curved rack 33 so that said rack cannot be pushed downwardly out of engagement with the bent lower end 30 on the rod 29. On the spacer blocks 34 is mounted a keeper plate 35 having a slot 36 to accommodate the bent end of the rod 29 as shown in Fig. B and a spring key 31 is mounted on the end of the bent portion 30 of the rod 29gto prevent the rod from slippirm out of the slots 3I and 36.

In Fig. 4 it will be seen that a portion I 4a ofthe hand lever I4 and-the keeper plate 35 are concavo-convex in cross section with the convex portions of said hand lever and keeper plate facing each other in spaced relation. At their closest pointsthe lever portion Ma and keeper plate 35 are relatively close to the rack 33 to keep it fairly close to the hand lever I4 and in proper alignment with the bent portion '30 of the, rod 29. It will also be seen that due to the curved construction of the hand lever portion I 4a and the keeper plate 35 the rack, 33 can be swung to different angular positions relative to said hand lever I4 and keeper plate 35 without jamming. This construction is providedbecause the arm 32 which carries the rack '33 is mounted upon the draft bar 24 which is adapted for lateral swinging movement and the arm 32 and rack 33' move with the draft bar 24. The construction disclosed, as stated above, provides'a relatively closely fitting keeper while at the same time permitting freedom of angular movement of the In the construction disclosed in my above identified former application it was explained. that the hand lever and rack for actuating the links used to rotate the harrow bars wasdisposed at the rearmost of the harrow bars,

and it was found that under some conditions there was a tendency for the forward portion of the harrow to buckle. However, by placing the rack and hand lever adjacent the foremost harrow bar, this tendency to buckle has been eliminated While at the same time permitting the 24 and the hand lever I4 which assists in keeping the forward bar or bars carrying the drag teeth in proper relation to the ground when any laterally swingable draft bar 24 makes the harroW much easier to turn and the keeper plate arrangement shown in Fig. 4 allows for the flexibility of movement of the draft bar 24 while maintaining engagement between the lower end of the'rod 29 and the rack 33.

While the harrow construction shown and described is generally the same as that disclosed in the above identified application, it will be seen that the construction has been changed and improved to such an extent that said construction is considerably superior and operation of the harrow is greatly improved, and while I have shown a specific embodiment of the invention, it will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A flexible, adjustable drag harrow comprising, a plurality of spaced, toothed bars, links tions, a draft bar positioned in forwardly spaced relation to the foremost of said first mentioned bars, and connections between said draft bar and said foremost of said first mentioned bars permitting lateral .shifting movement of said draft bar relative to said first mentioned bars, and a compression member connected between said draft bar and said toothed bar holding,

means, said compression member being shiftable with said draft bar.

v 2. A flexible, adjustable drag harrow comprising, a plurality of spaced, toothed bars, links interconnecting adjacent bars and pivotally con-- nected to each other, said barsbeing rotatable relative to said links and being vertically swingable relative to each other, a'draft bar in forwardly spaced relation with the foremost of said plurality of bars and connected to the foremost of said plurality of bars for lateral shifting movement relative to said plurality of bars, an armconnected to said, draft bar and extending rearwardly therefrom to a point adjacent'the foremost of said plurality of bars, said arm .havmg a rack formed on its rearward end, a lever connected to the foremost of said plurality of bars and to the foremost of said links, a spring pressed dog on said lever extending transversely of and engageable with said rack, and a keeper for said dog comprising a pair of spaced concavo-convex plates having their convex sides facing each other.

VINCENT 

